Cervical disfunction and pain are commonly occurring problems associated with aging, immobility, emotional stress and physical fatigue. The most common disorders of the cervical area are acute and chronic sprain and strain, muscle spasms with inflammation, joint stiffness and herniated discs.
This problem is often treated by cervical traction, the objective of which is to restore normal pain-free movement. It is particularly desirable to apply traction with flexion, preferably when the angle of traction is approximately 45 degrees. Also ideally, traction is applied intermittently, as compared to continuous manual traction. The intermittent or rhythmic traction produces substantially more joint separation as is sustained by non-intermittent traction.